


Friday the 13th

by allmyrandomfictions



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-14
Updated: 2014-06-14
Packaged: 2018-02-04 14:29:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1782361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allmyrandomfictions/pseuds/allmyrandomfictions
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Morgana wasn’t superstitious, really.  Perhaps she had more reason to be than most; she knew about the supernatural forces of the world that could alter her luck.  Still, Friday the 13th seemed a bit ridiculous.<br/>Perhaps she should have been more cautious.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Friday the 13th

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own Morgana or Merlin or any of these people. I'm just here to have a little fun. I do own the cat, though. Not really. He's just made up.
> 
> This is my first attempt at actual fic on this site so please be nice.

The day started with Morgana waking up from a thankfully peaceful sleep, when she felt an itch in her nose and sneezed.She was new to magic, but she felt the familiar burst of power coming from her, and heard glass shattering.She raised her head slowly, seeing the shattered mirror, lying in shards all over the floor.

The door flew open as Gwen rushed in, looking around worriedly.

“Is everything alright, my lady?” She asked, looking from the mirror to her friend, still lying in bed.

“Everything’s fine, Guinevere,” Morgana replied, trying to figure out some excuse or explanation, and then decided it was best to just hope that Gwen didn’t ask.

“Well, bad luck about the mirror,” Gwen said.“I hear that’s seven years bad luck!” She was smiling, clearly not at all believing her own words.She was just relieved that Morgana was okay and began going about her daily chores.She found a broom and started sweeping up the shards of glass on the floor, careful not to step on anything while Morgana dressed.She had assembled all the glass into a little pile when she heard a ripping sound.

“Dammit!” Morgana sighed.There was a large tear in her dress, right under her ribcage, and stretching all the way across the front, with a few threads stretching back to the changing screen behind it. “Guinevere, fetch me a new dress and can you see if you can get this mended today?”

“Of course my lady,” Gwen said, quickly finishing with the glass to help her mistress change from her one dress to another one.

When Morgana had finished changing, she rushed downstairs to eat breakfast with Uther and Arthur.Being in a rush, she missed a step on the way down, tumbling down the stairs.She was mostly unhurt, with only a sore butt, but her pride was rather wounded and she glanced around to make sure no one had seen.Of course, there was a group of young knights standing in the corridor, pointing at her, wondering if they should help her to her feet.She jumped up and scurried away as fast as she could and with all the dignity she could muster.

When she entered the dining hall, Uther and Arthur were already seated at the large table with Merlin standing behind Arthur.Morgana sat down next to Uther, trying not to wince as she sat on her still sore ass.Merlin moved around the table to fill Morgana’s goblet with water, which of course she refused, knowing what had happened last time she accepted a drink from him.She speared some grilled tomatoes, and almost had her fork to her mouth when the tomatoes plopped off her fork and onto her dress.

Morgana sighed deeply, wondering how bad this day was going to be as Arthur snickered at her across the table and Uther barely contained his chuckle.She reached over to her napkin to wipe the food off herself, knocking the salt over in the process.

“Better grab a pinch of salt, Morgana,” Uther said lightly.“You don’t want to be cursed with bad luck. Enough of that supernatural nonsense around here these days!”

Arthur snickered even harder at her.Morgana just rolled her eyes leaving the salt where it was, but motioning to Merlin to clean it up.

Morgana was able to get through the rest of her meal without much food spillage, and she had decided to spend the day walking through the kingdom with Arthur.

The two were walking around the lower town, chatting, stopping by a few stands to browse, when out of nowhere came a small boy. He may have been half Morgana’s size, but with the force he ran into Morgana with, he might as well have been one of Camelot’s largest warhorses.Morgana and the boy were thrown to the ground, with the boy landing on top or Morgana, and Morgana landing on top of a giant puddle of mud (at least, she hoped it was only mud).

The boy sprang quickly to his feet, looked around anxiously, and ran off, shouting a quick ‘sorry’ over his shoulder. Once he was out of sight, a group of five other boys appeared, looking around.From the ground, Morgana just pointed to where the boy had disappeared and said “that way,” and the boys were off.Arthur laughed madly but helped Morgana to her feet, brushing some strands of hay off her back and trying to wipe as much mud off her as possible.

“Want to go back to the castle?” Arthur asked once he had stopped laughing.

Morgana looked at him pathetically and made a whining noise.Arthur put his arm around her lovingly and the two walked back to the castle.

When they had returned, Morgana trudged to her room, locked the door behind her, and stripped off her soiled dress.She left it in a pile at her feet, stepping heavily out of it and finding her nightgown. It was only late afternoon by this time, but she had had enough of today.When she finished changing, she passed by her mirror, surprised to find it was broken.With all the mishaps of today, she had completely forgotten about her mirror.Perhaps this was the source of her bad luck.The mirror, combined with the salt and the fact it was Friday the thirteenth was the trifecta of unluckiness. _Maybe_ Morgana thought _there is something to all this superstition._

She was just going to lock her door, sit at her desk, and read a book.A nice, safe activity where she couldn’t break anything or trip over anything or spill anything or get run over by nasty little children.She found her favorite book, opened it carefully, and began to read.

Almost an hour had passed, and the sun was going down. She realized it was getting late, but was not yet hungry and so decided to read a little more.She lit a candle on her desk and continued reading.

As she was about to reach her favorite part of the story (the one where the witch curses all the knights and summons a dragon), she heard a loud knock on the door.

Startled, she jumped from her chair and went to the door, throwing it open to see who would dare to disturb her during story time.

She saw Merlin standing there with a small platter of food in one hand and a pitcher of water in the other. 

“What?” She demanded.

“The king just wanted to make sure you had supper,” Merlin replied, holding up the food.

“How thoughtful of him,” Morgana replied, narrowing her eyes at Merlin. _He’s probably poisoned this too_ she thought to herself.She knew he wouldn’t leave until she at least accepted the food, so she took the plate from his hands, ignoring the pitcher.“You may go now.”

Merlin ignored her. “You’re book,” he said.

“What?”Really, how she had ever been fooled by a stupid serving boy was beyond her.

“You’re book!” Merlin said, looking over Morgause’s shoulder. “It’s on fire!”

Morgana spun around to see that the book was indeed on fire.In her haste to open the door, she must have knocked the candle over, which found perfect kindling in the old pages of her book.

Merlin rushed past her and threw the contents of the pitcher onto the fire.Morgana’s book was now charred and soggy now, but of course, only the half where the witch summons the dragon. All the other pages were a little wet, but otherwise fine.It would take her forever to find another copy of this story!

“Bad luck about that,” Merlin said sheepishly, shrugging his shoulders.

Morgana just stared at her book, mouth agape and eyes wide in horror at the destruction of her book.Finally, when it had sunk in, her face crumpled.She walked past Merlin, shoving the plate of her supper into his hands and just collapsed face-first onto her bed, giving up completely on the day.  

Merlin just stood there awkwardly with his now empty pitcher and still full plate of food for a few moments.Morgana didn’t move at all.She just lay there on the bed, unmoving.

“I’ll just go,” Merlin said slowly, unsure of what to do.

As he began inching away from the king’s ward, there was a clatter outside of Morgana’s door.  

“What do you suppose that is?” Merlin asked curiously.

Morgana just grunted, reaching up for a pillow and pulling it down over her head to muffle the noise.

This feat proved to be difficult as the clamor moved into her chambers.Exasperated, Morgana rolled over and sat up, facing the three knights in full armor, brandishing weapons.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Morgana screeched at them, finally standing from the bed.“How dare you burst into my chambers, unannounced, with weapons ready! I am the King’s ward!”

The knights lowered their weapons and their gaze.

“We were just trying to get that cat,” one of the knights said sheepishly.

Morgana turned around and sure enough, there was a small black cat in the corner, hair standing on edge and hissing.

“You know how Uther has his superstitions,” the knight continued.“He saw the cat and thought it was an omen, and ordered us to kill it.”The black cat, they all knew, was the unluckiest of the signs, especially on Friday the 13th.

Morgana looked at the cat, with its golden eyes and dark body trembling in the corner.Its teeth were bared and its claws were out, and there was really no hope for the cat.She knew she should just let the guards get on with it. Let them catch the cat, drag it from her chambers, and dispose of it.With her luck today, the cat probably was cursed.

But Morgana felt a surge of pity for the poor thing. It wasn’t the cat’s fault it was born black, and therefore automatically hated.It wasn’t the cat’s fault it brought bad luck wherever it went.She knew the feeling.  

She cautiously approached the cat, making soft shushing noises.She slowly reached out a hand, pulling it back when the cat swiped at her with its claws.She tried again, slower, making more shushing noises, and finally setting her hand on the cat’s head, lightly petting it.

The cat seemed to realize that it wasn’t in any danger from her and relaxed a little, even nuzzling up into her hand.Morgana took this as a sign of approval and scooped the little cat into her arms. She cradled the cat against her chest, bouncing it slightly like you would to calm a child, petting its head and stroking its back.

“You can’t kill it,” Morgana said to the knights.“I’m keeping this cat.”

“But Uther said…”

“If Uther wants to kill this cat, he can come do it himself.And tell him, if he wants the cat, he will have to come through me!”

The knights bowed their heads and left the room, muttering about which one would have to tell Uther that his ward had adopted the evil omen of his magical doom.

Morgana placed the cat on her bed, watching it slowly explore her blankets and pillows.

“Right…” she heard a voice behind her.She had forgotten that Merlin was still there.She turned to see him clutching the plate and pitcher to himself, trying to be as small as possible.“I’m just gonna go…”His eyes darted from Morgana to the cat and back, and he turned and quickly ran out of the room. 

Morgana turned her attention back to the cat, which was swatting playfully at her sleeves.She reached over to pet the cat, who rolled over and continued to swat at her arm, catching her hands in his paws and nibbling lightly on her fingers.

It was still early in the evening, but the day had been exhausting, and now with no book to read, Morgana had no reason to stay awake.She extracted her fingers from the cat’s grasp and crawled under her blankets.

The cat stumbled over her, settling onto her stomach and curling up into a little black ball of fur.Morgana sleepily scratched his head and muttered ‘I’m gonna call you Lucky.’The cat purred in response.

_Meh_ Morgana thought to herself as she drifted off to sleep. _That wasn’t so bad._

The next morning, Morgana awoke to a tapping on her window.She got up, careful not to wake the still-sleeping cat and opened the window.A large raven flew in with a pouch tied to it’s leg.She untied the pouch and the raven flew off.Morgana closed the window and turned her attention to the pouch.Surely it was from her sister.She found a little note at the top of the pouch:

_Dearest Morgana,_

_I do hope this raven finds you on time.I forgot to warn you when we last met that the superstitions surrounding Friday the Thirteenth are true, especially for those with magic.I have enclosed a few luck charms to ward off the unluckiness, including a rabbit’s foot and a four leaf clover.Whatever you do, do not break any mirrors, spill salt, walk under ladders, or let a black cat cross your path._

_Be safe,_

_Morgause_

Morgana just rolled her eyes, crumpling the little paper in frustration and cursing the raven for its tardiness.She crawled back into bed and pulled Lucky in closer to her, deciding that her sister was wrong about the black cat, at least.  

 


End file.
